Whitney Wolfe, Creating A Kinder, Gentler Dating App, By Discouraging Bullying Behaviors, Lewd Photos And A General Lack Of Niceness

Imagine, if you will, an entrepreneur, who centers her business on the desire to eradicate female-targeted bullying, while leveling the heterosexual dating field and making it uncool to post genital selfies. Such an entrepreneur might look exactly like Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of the dating app, Bumble.

The brainchild of former Tinder, co-founder, Whitney Wolfe, Bumble emerged in 2014. No longer at Tinder, Wolfe, who says she was was very influenced by cyber-bullying as a young person— noting that young women in particular face harassment routinely on social media apps—was considering starting an online chat site for young woman when a colleague instead suggested she stick her toes back into the dating app world. For latest update connect with Whitney Wolfe on Twitter.

Bumble emerged.

Besides embodying the Whitney Wolfe ‘no-bullying’ philosophy—the app is designed to minimize ghosting, eradicate “shirtless wonder” selfies and make it difficult for angry, rejected males to drive the conversation—the app is meant to empower females by giving them the reins to initiate all communication.

Though lousy dating experiences happen even in the best environments, it’s Wolfe’s goal to squash caveman antics, like seeking crotch shots and refusing to swipe (the way dates are picked on both Tinder and Bumble) on women above a certain age. Buoying up female self-esteem is the ultimate goal and one that merits consideration, given that the American Psychological Association recently divulged that a notable number of dating app users report a lowered sense of self-worth. The study cited female users in particular.

Another, perhaps unusual goal for a business maven— kindness. Whitney Wolfe has made kindness a personal “Bumble” mission, with the result that users have been outed and booted for “fat-shaming” and using the expletive “gold-digging whores.” Users are reminded to keep to Bumble-specific culture with emojis that enjoin them to “bee nice.”

Creating a dating app where sensitive, new-age-attuned guys and the women who love them meet and mingle may seem like a social experiment, not a business. But, statistics prove it’s panning out in spades. In 2017, Whitney Wolfe’s dating app proved it was far from a bumbler, initiating 800 million matches.